Travels in Alaska 



daybreak. My Indians were glad to find the fiord 

 barred by a violent wind, against which we failed to 

 make any headway; and as it was too late in the sea- 

 son to wait for better weather, I reluctantly gave up 

 this promising work for another year, and directed 

 the crew to go straight ahead down the coast. We 

 sailed across the mouth of the happy inlet at fine 

 speed, keeping a man at the bow to look out for the 

 smallest of the bergs, not easily seen in the dim light, 

 and another bailing the canoe as the tops of some of 

 the white caps broke over us. About two o'clock we 

 passed a large bay or fiord, out of which a violent 

 wind was blowing, though the main Stephens Passage 

 was calm. About dusk, when we were all tired and 

 anxious to get into camp, we reached the mouth of 

 Sum Dum Bay, but nothing like a safe landing could 

 we find. Our experienced captain was indignant, as 

 well he might be, because we did not see fit to stop 

 early in the afternoon at a good camp-ground he had 

 chosen. He seemed determined to give us enough of 

 night sailing as a punishment to last us for the rest 

 of the voyage. Accordingly, though the night was 

 dark and rainy and the bay full of icebergs, he pushed 

 grimly on, saying that we must try to reach an 

 Indian village on the other side of the bay or an old 

 Indian fort on an island in the middle of it. We made 

 slow, weary, anxious progress while Toyatte, who was 

 well acquainted with every feature of this part of the 

 coast and could find his way in the dark, only laughed 

 at our misery. After a mile or two of this dismal night 

 work we struck across toward the island, now invisi- 



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